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Al writes "The AcceleGlove from AnthroTronix, is the first fully programmable glove that records hand and finger movements. Other gloves — like 5DT's Data Glove, which is used primarily in virtual reality — normally cost $1,000 to $5,000, but the AcceleGlove costs just $499. The AcceleGlove comes with software that lets developers use Java to program it for any application they wish. AnthroTronix initially developed the glove with the US Department of Defense for robotic control but it could also be used in video games, sports training, or physical rehabilitation."

It doesn't seem this AcceleGlove really compares with the more expensive data gloves. It has accelerometers for fingers, allowing you to measure their movements, while more expensive gloves include sensors that measure the actual angles of the joints. Basically, this glove has five degrees of freedom for the fingers, the more expensive ones up to twenty or so.

Well, for the purpose of something like a game interface, that's actually fairly acceptable, because one can use the inverse kinematics algorithms to reproduce a decent representation of the angles of the joints, simply from the end points of the fingers, that this particular glove *does* track. I've wanted one of these things for certain game prototypes for ages, but no way I'm going to spend $2k+ to get one.

I can agree that the price seems outrageous, however I would say that cheap is fairly applied here. Also note that the product does not seem quite ready for mass market consumption (something which drives price down much more), and until it is I suspect none of these devices will ever seem "cheap" to you.

So it has 5 1D accelerometers under each finger connected to a primitive microcontroller and an usb controller? Basically no useful software? For $500 that's probably going to be $800+ when and if it ever reaches Europe? Forgive me but this is hardly exciting. Come beck when you have 32 sensors which I believe is the minimum you'll need if you want to be able to record every movement of a human hand. Then you'll be worth your 3 line slashvertisement.

Why not have bluetooth or wireless USB. Seems like for something interactive you're not going to want to be wired down for it. If game controllers can do it you'd think something 10x the price wouldn't have a wire sticking out the back.

This will go great combined with facial recognition goggles... so, when you flip someone the bird, your iPhone simultaneous texts them, "FU!" while also hacking into their bank account and stealing all their money!;-)

Game developers sure do love developing with Java. Yep, this will integrate perfectly into our XBox 360/PS 3/Wii engine. After all, our engine is built in 100% Java. Not any of that crappy C or C++ stuff that the official development kits for those consoles require you use. Nope, I hand rolled my own JRE.

In interactive media:
take off the glove to smack your opponent as you challenge them to a duel!
play a virtual flute that will make others watching you think you've gone insane!
Fill the glove with Vasoline and pretend you're Curly(R) from Of Mice and Men(C)!
Most realistic boss-stabbing simulation ever!
Aim your gun - WITH YOUR HANDS(TM)! (disclaimer: never aim a gun with other appendages)
Smack them bitches - LITERALLY!
Pretend you're a ghost by activating {noclip} and walking through walls! (disclamer:

I made a primitive version with a partner in highschool, we did finger bending using potentiometers but never got around to getting position so we used a mouse.(I was in charge of software)

Now I looked at sparkfun and they have a 6 degrees of freedom sensor [sparkfun.com] for $125, add to that six flex sensors ($13 each) and some sort of CPU looks like something around $40 would do and you have your very own data glove for around $250.

VR gloves in consumer hands are nothing new. First there was the Nintendo Powerglove and then a while later there was the P5 Glove [vrealities.com] for the PC and soon to be there is Microsofts Natal, which works completly without gloves and instead just with a camera.

I really don't see anything special about this, especially since the price falls in into the fucking expensive category and not into one where it is interesting for the average consumers.

A thousand bucks is a lot, though. And for five hundred, I want more than some accelerometers. I want the position of every joint in the hand! I'm serious when I say that a five-sensor project like what they're selling here is within the reach of the experimenter. You will need some cheap little accelerometers (like these? [analog.com]) and a microcontroller with some high-res counters, probably one per axis.

The problem is a data glove is not a volume product; even if they could make them much cheaper, this will probably never be a mass consumer product. To make and sell an actual product involves a lot more than just the potential unit manufacturing cost of the tech (office space, marketing, software, distribution, HR, legal, accounting, engineers, managers, making drivers etc.) - unless you're talking about a home-made job, you have to add all that stuff into the price. Personally I doubt you can turn any kin